When was Michigan's last team national championship?

Submitted by ak47 on

Growing up in Maryland as a baltimore sports fan I still occasionally check some maryland forums to see what people are saying about the teams.  There was a topic looking at big ten and national titles since Maryland joined the big ten.  Maryland is tied for second with Michigan for most big ten titles (its a little wonky since they only include regular season, not tournament titles) behind osu, which is pretty impressive since they only sponsor 20 sports coimpared to Michigan and OSU's 28.

But what stood out to me was the number of team national championships. Since MD joined the big ten, in 2014 for sports Michigan hasn't won a single team national title.  The schools that have according to them:

OSU: 5, wrestling, womens rowing, mens voleyball x2, and football

PSU: 4 Wrestling x2, women's soccer, women's voleyball

MD: 3, women's lacorsse x2, men's lacrosse

Minnesota: 2, women's hockey x2

Nebraska: 1 women's voleyball

MSU: 1, women's cross country 

So what was our last team national championship? I'm thinking it was men's gymnastics? Also does this dissapoint anyone?  It seems like we have a lot of sports where we are good but pretty few were we are the top program in the country conversation.

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mgoblueben

June 1st, 2017 at 10:59 AM ^

Yea and prior to getting kicked out of IRA championship, Michigan was neck and neck in the top 5 every year. Michigan produces a number of Olympic rowers. Don't discredit them for being a club sport due to title 9. They have won like 8 of 9 ACRA championships and dominated nationally. The "varsity" teams were scared of getting beat by Michigans walk on of champions

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el segundo

June 1st, 2017 at 12:20 PM ^

Between 1999 and 2008, Michigan competed in the IRA.  (I could not find comprehensive results from before 1999).  Its best finish in the Mens Varsity 8 was 11th.  In that period, it usually finished 11th or 12th, sometimes lower.  Its best finish in the overall IRA team standings was 6th, in 2002.  In the last year of its IRA competition, Michigan was 17th in the V8 (out of 24) and 20th overall.

There are a lot of reasons that club teams were excluded from the IRAs, but they did not include fear of anyone's club program, including Michigan's.

It's absurd to say that club programs can compete on an equal basis with varsity programs or that the ACRA chamption can compete with the IRA champion.  Grand Valley State is frequently a top-5 club program, but no-one is suggesting that GVSU can compete with the best in college rowing.  It is a real achievement for Michigan to have won so many ACRA championships, but there is no reasonable argument that winning ACRA makes you the "national champion" of college rowing.

http://ira.qra.org 

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UM Fan from Sydney

May 31st, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^

You could have found the answer to your question using Google faster than creating this thread.

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ak47

May 31st, 2017 at 2:56 PM ^

I was hoping to generate some discussion more than get an answer I could have googled.  I guess what sport will give michigan its next team title could have been a better thread title.

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Wolvie3758

May 31st, 2017 at 2:50 PM ^

year in and year out Michigan is a top 5 or top 10 finisher in the all sports standings...NC titles or not we are one of the most well rounded and top athletic schools in the nation..virtually all over our sports with a exception of a few have qualified for the National Championships this year and we currently sit in 3rd place in the Directors Cup standings

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